Brewers' Gamel tears his ACL again

This is a Feb. 17, 2013 photo of Mat Gamel of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team. Brewers first baseman Gamel has torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee for the second time in less than a year and will miss the season. Assistant general manager Gord Ash made the announcement Monday, Feb. 18, 2013. (AP Photo/Morry Gash)

PHOENIX — Mat Gamel’s bid to replace Corey Hart as the Milwaukee Brewers’ first baseman for the early portion of the season is over before it began.

An MRI confirmed that Gamel tore the surgically repaired ACL in his right knee, sidelining him for the year, the Brewers announced Monday.

“He was pretty good when I talked to him earlier today, but it has to crush you,” manager Ron Roenicke said. “You go through a long rehab period, which isn’t fun. It’s lonely, it’s hard work, boring at times, and now to think you have to go through it all again, it’s pretty rough.”

The first sign of trouble for Gamel came Saturday when he was forced to leave the Brewers’ first full-squad workout before it was finished. He was transported on a cart from the field to the training room to have the knee examined.

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The original belief was that Gamel merely aggravated the knee and that he would be slowly worked back into action starting Monday.

“Really surprised me, because there was really no major event that happened that you would have thought would be that serious,” Roenicke said. “I figured OK, he tweaked it, a couple of days and he’s back on the field.”

Gamel, the Brewers’ replacement for Prince Fielder coming out of spring training last year, tore his right ACL early last May chasing a foul pop-up in San Diego and missed the rest of 2012 after having the knee reconstructed.

He eventually was replaced by Hart, who went on to have a big year at the position and was tabbed as the starter for 2013. But with Hart undergoing knee surgery Jan. 25 and expected to miss the first four to six weeks of the season, Gamel received another shot at first base.

Team officials said Gamel’s new ACL tear was very unusual.

“It’s a tear of the middle portion of the repair, which as (team physician William) Raasch explained to me, is unusual,” assistant general manager Gord Ash said. “There are failures - 10 percent seems to be the historical number. But of those failures, they’re mostly at either end (of the ligament).”

With Gamel and Hart out of the equation, the Brewers will work with Taylor Green, Alex Gonzalez, Bobby Crosby and Hunter Morris at first. Sean Halton was brought over from the minor-league side to provide depth.

“We’ll look at all the guys we have in camp here,” general manager Doug Melvin said.

“Hunter had a very good year last year in Double-A. We’ll look at them early in games here and determine that later.

“We’re still hoping Corey Hart is back here in a certain period of time during the year.”

Green started 14 games last season at first base for the Brewers and Crosby played some first base in Oakland in 2009 and Pittsburgh in 2010. Gonzalez has never played anywhere but shortstop in the majors.

Morris was the Brewers’ minor-league player of the year in 2012 but hasn’t played above Class AA. Halton is a career minor-leaguer who’s considered stronger defensively than offensively.

Hart said last week that he was hopeful that he could return by the end of April and his history with injuries has shown he often comes back sooner than expected. But the original timeframe given was that Hart would be sidelined for three to four months after having his Jan. 25 surgery.

“I think we can cover it with people we have in-house,” Roenicke said. “But that’s not to say that Doug isn’t already thinking about it and looking, because you can’t predict exactly when Corey’s coming back.

“Hopefully it goes well, and he’s back when we think he is, but you don’t always know that. But we’ve got some guys in camp that we’re happy with as far as being able to fill and do that job.”

Ash said Gamel received a clean bill of health from Raasch in late January when he was in Milwaukee for the “Brewers on Deck” event at the Delta Center, and that he also checked out fine in his team physical Feb. 12.

Gamel, 27, had been wearing a protective brace on his knee, one similar to those worn by linemen in football, but only because he said he felt more comfortable with it at the outset of camp.

Where this leaves Gamel in the Brewers’ plans remains to be seen. A fourth-round draft pick in 2005, Gamel has just 240 at-bats in 106 major-league games while battling injuries and other issues.

“Clearly, it’s a setback,” Ash said. “It’s a tough thing just as much mentally as physically for a guy that’s spent eight months rehabbing and all of a sudden be told he’ll have to start over again.

“I do think he’s got youth on his side. It’s not like this is a 38-year-old guy and he knows this is the end of the line. He does have time on his side. But clearly missing that much repetition in games is going to hurt him.”

The only good news was that the Brewers have time to find a replacement or replacements. They don’t play their first exhibition game until Saturday, giving plenty of time to sort things out at the position over the next six weeks or so.

“If it is going to be Alex or somebody like Green, even though we know Taylor can play first base and has, this would allow them to play it a lot more,” Roenicke said. “Anytime you can prepare a little bit more, you’re better off.”